Approximately 60 students attending the university course Maintaining, Rehabilitating and Upgrading Conventional Railroad Track were at WSOR's Johnson Street Yard for a field demonstration on track tamping and surfacing and regulating track infrastructure. A Mark IV Tamper, Kershaw Regulator and a Geismar Bolt Machine were operated for demonstration.

"This field demonstration was an invaluable part of our course learning," stated Dave Peterson, program director of the UW-Madison Engineering Program. "The WSOR gave our students the opportunity to visually see part of the maintenance process and how the strategies we learned in the classroom are practiced in the field."

The University of Wisconsin-Madison College of Engineering provides curriculums each year that help attendees gain a working knowledge of the basics of track structure performance, causes of common problem and cost-effective maintenance and rehabilitation techniques. The courses also teach how axle loads, traffic density and operating speed affect the choice of rehabilitation and upgrading plans.